The Hollywood Reporter's Most Powerful Stylist: 8 Things You Don't Know About Kate Young

The Brooklynite, who dresses Michelle Williams, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz, doesn't use double-stick tape and worked as Anna Wintour's assistant before scoring the top spot above 24 other heavyweight stylists.

March 14, 2012

by

Carol McColgin

Kate Young, who counts Michelle Williams and Natalie Portman among her high-profile clientele, ranks No. 1 on THR's list of the 25 most powerful stylists of 2012.

Here are eight things you probably didn't know about the Brooklyn-based super-stylist, who makes her debutatop the roster of power dressers:

1. She doesn't sleep before the Oscars. "I can't sleep for like two weeks because of nerves," admits Young, who was even more anxious than usual because of the bold color choice for My Week With Marilyn nominee Williams' dress at this year’s Academy Awards. "I told my best friend, 'it's orange … what do you think?' and she was like 'oof — really, Kate, orange?!'"

2. She studied at Oxford. Young grew up in Pennsylvania with a family of intellectuals, but always dreamed of fashion. "My first word was shoe. I kept saying 'I want to go to FIT [Fashion Institute of Technology] and they'd all burst out laughing — everyone in my family is a doctor, lawyer or professor,' says Young who earned a degree in English and Art History at Oxford. "Of course, my family is incredibly proud and supportive of what I’m doing now."

4. She was Anna Wintour's assistant at Vogue. Young got her start assisting Vogue’s editor-in-chief and went on to work on the fashion magazine's 'People Are Talking About' pages, which spotlight up-and-coming actresses. "I'd meet all the actresses on shoots and they'd ask me to wear the dresses to their movie premieres. I'd just pull shoes or whatever else they needed to go with it," says Young, who dressed Julianna Margulies and Jennifer Connelly early on in her red-carpet career.

5. She's employed by Jason Wu. In addition to red-carpet styling, Young is a consultant for designer Jason Wu's fashion collection. "We work together all year long — in a few weeks we'll start on his next resort line," says Young. "The material for Michelle’s long-sleeve dress at the Globes was one that Jason had developed for his fall show. I talked to him about designing a dress for her and he's so fast that he texted me sketches within half an hour."

6. She had a hard time buying jewelry. "I'm very picky about jewelry and I don’t wear a lot at a time, but I have a pretty extensive jewelry collection. I have a bunch of Cartier pieces and whenever I know that they're going to discontinue something that I’ve had my eye on for a while I'll go ahead and buy it," says Young, who owns a discontinued tri-color '70s style gold Tank watch and a tri-color LOVE necklace both by Cartier. "It's hard for me to part with that much money, so it's usually like do it or you'll never do it — when they discontinue something it pushes me to the edge."

7. She hates double-stick tape. While most of THR’s top 25 stylists named double-stick tape as an essential in their styling kit, Young prefers using her tailor for a precise, wardrobe malfunction-free fit: "I will do anything to avoid using double-stick tape! I don't think it works and you can always tell when people wear it — it gets wadded up," she says.

8. She doesn't think a dress should have instant crowd-appeal. "When you see something and like it right away it's usually too boring an hour later," says Young, who prefers unexpected colors, silhouettes and accents such as the beaded red rose on Portman's Viktor & Rolf pink silk dress at 2011's Golden Globes. "I want to push the envelope just far enough that you're not sure if you like it at first. I want people to initially say 'oh, that’s an interesting choice' and then hopefully say, 'oh, but I really like it.'"